ONE COSMIC
CHART STORY
Kenny Chesney’s 17th studio album, Cosmic Hallelujah (Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville) has topped the Sales Plus Streaming (SPS) Chart with 90k.
Three more new releases immediately followed at #2, #3 and #4. Those are Jeezy’s Trap or Die 3 (Def Jam) with 87k, Meek Mill’s DC4 (MMG) with 83k and Avenged Sevenfold’s The Stage (Capitol) with approximately 80k.
Only two other debuts made the Top 15; Tove Lo’s Lady Wood (Island) came in at #11, while A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes, Vol. 1 (RCA) bowed at #13.
As for more things “Hallelujah”-related, Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas (RCA) held in the Top 10 (at #6) in its second week out, down less than 40% with another 41k. That album of course features the band’s rendition of Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah”—the video for which has earned a whopping 32m views in two weeks. Also, this election is almost over, but that fact might elicit more of a “Holy Hell” than a “Hallelujah.”
Following the 50th Annual CMA Awards, an array of country artists saw chart bumps. Capitol Nashville’s Keith Urban went #31-14 and Male Vocalist Mercury Nashville’s Chris Stapleton jumped #19-16, while New Artist winner Columbia Nashville’s Maren Morris re-entered at #33 and Warner Bros. Naashville’s Blake Shelton re-entered at #50.
Powered by one hell of a single, Eardruma/Interscope’s Rae Sremmurd enjoyed an SPS surge for a third consecutive week, as “Black Beatles” went #12-10 on HITS’ Song Revenue Chart.
When it comes to the SPS marketshare battle, there’s UMG at #1 with 42%, SME at #2 with 34% and WMG at #3 with 22%.
Meanwhile, on the Album Sales Chart, a total of nine acts with new releases made the Top 15. They are Chesney (#1), Avenged Sevenfold (#2), Jeezy (#3), Meek Mill (#5), Masterworks’ The Piano Guys (#8), Tove Lo (#9), Nuclear Blast’s Testament (#10), WMG Nashville’s Brett Eldredge (#11) and Rise’s Memphis May Fire (#15).
On that chart, Urban (#32-12), Stapleton (#16-13), CMA Female Vocalist of the Year and host 19/Arista Nashville’s Carrie Underwood (#39-28) all saw CMA-related bumps, while Morris (#21), Album of the Year winner EMI Nashville’s Eric Church (#36), Shelton (#37) and Capitol Nashville’s Dierks Bentley (#44) all re-entered.
Speaking of re-entries, Pentatonix’s previous yuletide set, That’s Christmas to Me, returned to the Album Sales Chart at #30 this week.
And as Dreamworks flick Trolls prepared to hit theaters, the RCA soundtrack leapt #49-32. On a semi-related note, this Q4 madness has caused us HITS folk to begin to resemble trolls ourselves; our hair is sticking straight up, and, yes, we’ve started tearing off our clothes in a frenzy.
This week’s album sales marketshare battle looks similar to the SPS one; there’s UMG at #1 with 45%, SME at #2 with 29% and WMG at #3 with 24%.
Streeting this week are sets from Island’s Bon Jovi, RCA’s Alicia Keys, Def Jam’s Common and Disruptor/Columbia’s The Chainsmokers, along with two UMe projects—NOW 60 and NOW Country #1s.
